


I Never Said You'd Be Easy

by Nyhne



Series: Sleeping With A Friend [1]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Angst, Dirty Dancing, Dirty Thoughts, Frat Parties, Friends With Benefits, Friends to Lovers, Implied Sexual Content, M/M, Romance, very minor TurkAus because I can
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-28
Updated: 2015-12-28
Packaged: 2018-05-09 20:55:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5555021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyhne/pseuds/Nyhne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gilbert and Roderich had a good thing going until Gilbert managed to fuck it up. </p><p>---Part of a College AU series that centers around PruAus.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Never Said You'd Be Easy

Gilbert knew he was in danger. 

They had started the arrangement at the beginning of their sophomore year, about two weeks after the craziness that was Orientation Week, and Gilbert had been the one to propose the idea.

_Friends with benefits._

It should have been simple. They were friends (kind of—most of their conversations ended in arguments and Roderich still hadn’t forgiven him for the time Gilbert had punched him in the face in the seventh grade, but really, Roderich had deserved it), and the benefits were amazing. 

Or at least, Gilbert thought so. Sometimes Roderich could be a bit businesslike about it, but once Gilbert had him wrestled onto the cheap Twin XL bed and Roderich began putting those pianist’s fingers to better use, that was when Gilbert saw the real Roderich Edelstein come out. 

And fuck if he hadn’t fallen hard for it. 

It was actually starting to become a bit of a problem. Non-exclusivity had always been a part of their agreement, but the longer they continued this arrangement the more Gilbert wished those three little letters in front of ‘exclusivity’ would just fall off. 

Roderich was pretty. He was too pretty for his own good and ever since Erzsi had convinced him to get a Grindr (Gilbert was going to fucking kill her for that one day, he was sure) the Cleveland-born Austrian had turned into even more of a manwhore than he’d been before. Gilbert felt bad for whoever Roderich’s neighbors were because they probably never got any sleep with Roderich’s bed rocking against the wall so often. 

Of course, _Gilbert_ was one of the reasons why Roderich’s bed was rocking against the wall, but that was beside the point. 

_And the point was,_ was that Gilbert was sitting on a dingy, worn out couch in the basement of a frat house watching Roderich dirty dance with that Turkish exchange student who always wore a white mask because it made him look cool or something. What an asshole. 

“Hey, Gil!” 

A body plopped next to him on the couch, sloshing the contents of the red solo cup he was still clutching in one hand. Some spilled on his pants but he hardly noticed. 

“Please tell me this isn’t the same drink you had when we first got here.” Erzsébet leaned over and peered into his cup, looking at its full contents critically. “That was nearly an hour ago!”

“I haven’t felt like drinking yet,” Gilbert shrugged in way of explanation, still keeping his eyes trained on Roderich. 

Erzsébet leaned back and gave him a hard look. “ _You_ ,” she said disbelievingly, “haven’t felt like drinking? I call bullshit.”

Gilbert rolled his eyes. “Shut up,” he said. “Do you want the rest of my drink or not?” 

He thrust it in her direction and after a pause she shrugged and let him pour its contents into her own cup. She took a deep drink and wiped her mouth with the back of a hand before turning her attention to him again. 

“What are you looking at?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Gilbert said too quickly, diverting his eyes. 

Erzsébet’s lips pursed into a frown and she turned to look into the crowd, tracing where Gilbert’s line of sight had been just a second ago. It was easy to figure out what had captured the other’s attention; the couple stood out like a very attractive and sensuous sore thumb in the crowd of dancing college students. 

Gilbert looked away, not wanting to talk about the elephant in the room. Erzsébet wasn’t naïve to their little arrangement—and she was also perceptive enough to pick up what the problem was. 

“It’s whatever,” he muttered preemptively.  

Erzsébet’s eyes turned into something sympathetic and Gilbert felt like he wanted to vomit. “Why don’t you just tell him? The only way you’re going to solve anything is through talking, you know.”

Gilbert shook his head. “If he realizes there’s something wrong with our agreement, he’ll just say it’s better to drop it. You and I both know that he has enough guys to fuck that losing one wouldn’t matter,” he grumbled bitterly. 

The song began to change and an enthusiastic cry buzzed through the crowd, hips immediately changing direction and pattern to the new beat. Gilbert watched Roderich laugh as Sadik pulled him closer, the Turk’s hands wandering further down his sides. 

“How much has he had to drink?” Gilbert asked suddenly, nodding to the pair. 

“More than I have,” Erzsébet admitted. “But he’s still in control, if you’re worried about that,” she added. 

“No, I—fuck, he’s going to hate me for this,” Gilbert groaned. He shoved his empty solo up at her before she could ask, standing up abruptly from the couch. As he moved into the crowd he could feel the temperature spike, the sweaty throng of college students jostling him left and right. He blew out a quick breath and pushed the sleeves of his shirt up. A bead of sweat already beginning to roll down his neck. 

Finally he made it to the center of the dancefloor where Roderich was, Sadik’s hands on his hips guiding them to the music. Gilbert tried to ignore that part as he stood next to them awkwardly, not really dancing even as partygoers pushed around him. 

Eventually Sadik noticed that he wasn’t going anywhere. The Turk raised his head and peered down at Gilbert, the mask and flashing colors from the DJ’s stand partially obscuring his face. His hands didn’t leave Roderich’s hips.

“Can I help you?” he asked gruffly.

Gilbert wasn’t deterred by his unfriendly tone. He continued to ignore the other until Roderich finally looked up and noticed him, the brunet’s eyes widening briefly in surprise. 

“Is there something wrong, Gilbert?” he asked, hips still swaying to the beat.

“Can I talk to you?” Gilbert replied.

Roderich’s movements stilled slightly and he began to pull away from Sadik’s hold, to the other man’s grunt of annoyance. “Did something happen to Erzsébet?” he frowned. 

Gilbert made a noise in frustration. “No, I just—come on,” he grumbled impatiently, grabbing Roderich’s hand and beginning to pull him through the crowd before either of the other two students could react. 

“Gilbert!”

He led them through the crowd and up the stairs, ignoring the annoyed comments thrown their way as Gilbert continued to push past people. 

“ _Gilbert!_ ” 

A forceful tug against his arm finally brought them to a stop, Gilbert turning back to see the agitated outline of Roderich being haloed in the open doorway of the frat house. They were standing just outside the entrance, one or two curious heads glancing their direction before returning to the party. Someone closed the door and suddenly they were shrouded in the stillness of the late autumn night, the ambient chatter of the party muffled from the outside. A faint peal of laughter rose from the backyard where a group of students were smoking. 

“What has gotten into you?” Roderich demanded angrily, his arm held protectively to his side as if he thought Gilbert would pull him off again somewhere. 

“I…” Gilbert mouth suddenly went dry. 

“Do you have any idea the kind of spectacle you made in there? If you had something to tell me you could have just told me inside, or waited until tomorrow!” Roderich’s hands curled into fists at his sides, reminding Gilbert of when they had first started sleeping together, and the sex had been an answer to their arguments more often than not. Gilbert’s mouth started feeling dry for an entirely different reason.

“Now I’m going to have to go back in there and apologize to Sadik for your boorish actions—“ Roderich was muttering angrily, already beginning to turn around. 

As soon as Gilbert heard the Turk’s name a switch flipped within him and he was surging forward. He grabbed Roderich’s arm, pulling him back so they were facing each other. Violet eyes looked up at him in surprise for the second time that night, Roderich’s lips parted slightly. Gilbert wanted so bad to touch them.

“No,” he said. His voice sounded distant even to him as he leaned forward, closing the remaining space between them and covering Roderich’s lips with his own. 

They were drier than he’d expected, and they tasted heavily of the punch concoction served to them in red solo cups from the downstairs bar. He felt Roderich breathe in sharply, the brunet stiffening in his hold. But he didn’t jolt away, even as Gilbert finally pulled back, locking gaze with him without waver.

“Don’t go back to him,” he said seriously. “Please.”

The expression on Roderich’s face was a sea of emotions, the Austrian’s violet eyes conflicted. “Kissing…kissing wasn’t part of our agreement,” he finally said, voice faint. 

Gilbert took a deep breath, still tense in anticipation for some kind of retaliation from the other. “I know,” he replied. “That’s why I wanted to talk to you. Without Sadik or Erzsi around. Roderich…I don’t want to do our arrangement anymore. I don’t want to just be sleeping with a friend, I want something more.”

He watched the panic slowly rising in Roderich’s eyes, the other’s shoulders tensing under his hand. 

“You…you idiot,” Roderich breathed out, his eyes wide. 

“I’m telling the truth,” Gilbert implored. “This is really how I feel, Roddy.”

Roderich bit at his lip, the conflicted look waging war in his violets. “I knew this wouldn’t work,” he whispered.

Gilbert felt part of him break at the other’s words. Why did he always have to ruin things, why couldn’t he have just been happy being friends with benefits? 

He watched as Roderich shook off his grip, slowly backing towards the frat house. “You should go, Gil,” he said uncertainly. “Please just go.” 

He slipped back into the house, leaving Gilbert standing outside alone and feeling like the biggest idiot in the world.  


**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a College AU oneshot series that centers around Gilbert and Roderich's relationship with one another. Hopefully you'll learn more about them as time goes on, but for now, all you need to know is that Roderich is a music major concentrating in piano performance and Gilbert is a physics major whose little brother, Ludwig, is finishing up his senior year of high school back in their hometown in New Jersey. Gil and Roderich are currently in their sophomore year of college, but the series will probably branch out around that. 
> 
> The oneshots don't necessarily have to be read in order, but some make more sense when read that way than others! Additionally, the Gilbert and Roderich in this AU are not particularly pious people, as the series title implies, and there will be sexual content, drug use, and underaged drinking covered in these fics. The series and fic title are from the song 'Sleeping With A Friend' by Neon Trees. Thanks for reading, loves!! <3


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